Thomas Siderio shooting: family of 12-year-old teenager shot dead by Philly police sues officers

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) – A Philadelphia police officer who shot dead a 12-year-old boy last week after several officers were shot during an investigation will be fired.

Commissioner Daniel Outlo said on Tuesday that the officer was suspended for 30 days with the intention of firing him for violating the policy of force.

The shooting took place around 7:24 p.m. on March 1.

Police say several plainclothes officers involved in the firearms investigation were shot at in the area of ​​18th Street and Barbara Street in South Philadelphia.

Officers who were in the car unmarked turned on a red-and-blue alarm, police said.

Officers say they then heard a shot and shattered the glass. One officer’s glass hit him in the eye after a bullet went through the window of a police car.

Two officers opened fire in response. One of the officers then went into hiding and the other chased Thomas Siderio Jr. on foot, police said.

That officer fired twice more, Outlaw said, and Siderio received a fatal blow to the back.

Police say a gun was stolen in Siderio. Outlaw said at a news conference on Tuesday that all the evidence gathered so far shows that it was Siderio who shot at the police car.

Asked if she considered the use of force in this case excessive, Outlaw said: “I believe it was so, so.”

Lawyer Conor Corcoran tells Action News that the family claims Siderio did not have a gun when he was shot, and says the funeral director did not find gunpowder in his hands.

Corcoran says Siderio was “killed at point-blank range.”

“These obscene allegations of his guilt – particularly from the Philly police – are just the latest example of their own interest in hiding their tracks rather than making up for this unforgivable act of anger and murder,” Carkoran said.

The names of the officers involved in the shooting are not named because, Outlaw said, there are concerns about their safety.

In the Brotherhood, the police said they did not comment on today’s events.

District Attorney Larry Krasner called the shooting a “tragedy,” but did not provide further details.

“If appropriate, we will publish the results of our active investigation and the decision to open criminal charges,” Krasner’s office said in a statement.